The city of Green Bay is pumping the brakes on a Brown County plan to use the hotel room tax to help fund construction of an expo hall on the site of the old arena.

The Brown County Board approved a 0.5 percent sales tax last month to help pay for a number of county projects, including razing the Veterans Memorial Arena, gutting Shopko Hall and building an expo hall for $93 million.

A portion of the county sales tax would pay for it. The majority of the funds would come from the room tax — a 10 percent tax that guests pay on hotel room stays in Brown County. That means visitors would be funding a large portion of the costs for the arena.

Right now, part of the room tax money is committed to the KI Convention Center and the Resch Center until 2029. After that, County Executive Troy Streckenbach wants to use the money for a new expo hall.

Area businesses and tourism and construction groups have backed the proposal, as have five of the seven communities that charge a room tax. (Bellevue has yet to vote.)

Green Bay, though, discussed the idea last week and decided it needs more time to examine the proposal.

That’s understandable, even though this plan has been out there for over a month. Still, go ahead, look at the details. But don’t use it as an excuse to squeeze concessions out of the county for some pet project, like a grievously overlooked escalator at the KI Center.

Plus, we’re not encouraged when we hear comments like Alderman Joe Moore saying that this is “the first step in a negotiation, and you never accept the first offer,” or Alderman Randy Scannell saying that there is “some room to talk to the county about how some of this money should be spent,” a comment apparently in regard to the county sales tax.

Looking at the merits of the plan is fine, but playing parochial politics on a project that would benefit the entire county, including Green Bay, is narrow-minded.

The city has benefited from the room tax, which helped pay for the renovated KI Center — a venue that has an economic impact that crosses municipal boundaries. It seems kind of petty to question use of that same tax for a venue that would have an estimated economic impact on the area of $130 million over 10 years.

The Green Bay City Council and Mayor Jim Schmitt need to get on board.

A new arena puts people in beds in greater Green Bay hotels and motels, and it will draw visitors to area municipalities. It would benefit the city’s proposed Legends District, which is directly to the east of the Brown County Veterans Memorial Complex.

When we endorsed the county's temporary sales tax plan, we said we don’t want to see this process dragged out. That’s what worries us about the city’s reaction.

Now is the time for the council and the mayor to show some leadership on this project and approve it. It will be good for Brown County, and it will be good for Green Bay and surrounding municipalities.